Nutrients In Piglets Research Articles

Alleviative Effect of Probiotic Ferment on Lawsonia intracellularis Infection in Piglets.

(1) Background: Lawsonia intracellularis (LI) is an obligate intracellular Gram-negative bacterium that causes porcine ileitis. Pigs infected with LI have severe ileal lesions and show symptoms of diarrhea, indigestion, and growth retardation. Previous studies found that probiotic ferment (FAM) improved the growth performance, gut barrier, and function in piglets. Therefore, we aimed to reveal the mechanism that FAM alleviates negative performance in LI-challenged piglets by characterizing the changes in intestinal integrity, function, and gut microbiota following FAM supplementation. (2) Methods: Twenty-four healthy piglets were randomly allotted to four treatments. Three groups were challenged with LI; both FAM addition and vaccination were performed to explore their positive effects on LI-infected piglets. (3) Results: Piglets infected with LI showed lower growth performance and typical pathological symptoms. Moreover, microscopic images showed that observed intestinal morphological damage could be repaired by FAM and vaccine. To explore the digestion of nutrients in piglets, both digestive enzyme activity and ileal transporter expression were performed to reveal the promoting effect of additives. Reduction of LI colonization intervention by FAM could also ameliorate abnormal differentiation and function of intestinal epithelial cells and alleviate severe inflammatory responses in piglets. Regarding the gut microbiota, both the structure and function of the ileal and colonic microbiota were altered following FAM supplementation. (4) Conclusions: In conclusion, probiotic ferment can reduce the colonization of LI in the ileum, improve intestinal damage, barrier function and microbiota structure, and enhance digestive enzyme activity and nutrient transport proteins expression, thereby improving piglet growth performance, which has the effect of preventing ileitis in pigs.

The Positive Effects of Exogenous Pancreatin on Growth Performance, Nutrient Digestion and Absorption, and Intestinal Microbiota in Piglets.

Pancreatin secretion is dramatically decreased over time after weaning, thus affecting the utilization of nutrients in piglets. Therefore, exogenous pancreatin is expected to alleviate this situation. This experiment was conducted to investigate the effects of exogenous pancreatin on the growth performance, nutrient digestion and absorption, and intestinal microbiota of piglets. One hundred eighty piglets (Duroc × Landrace × Yorkshire, 40 days) were randomly allotted to three treatments (basal diets supplemented with 0, 250, or 500 mg/kg pancreatin) with three replicate pens per treatment and 20 piglets per pen. Compared with the control diet, dietary 500 mg/kg pancreatin significantly increased (p < 0.05) the average daily gain (ADG) and the apparent digestibility of crude protein and crude fat of piglets. Regarding endogenous enzymes, pancrelipase activity in the pancreas, duodenal mucosa, and small intestinal digesta as well as trypsin activity in the jejunal digesta were increased in piglets fed a diet supplemented with 500 mg/kg pancreatin (p < 0.05). Moreover, amylopsin activity was significantly strengthened in the pancreas, duodenal mucosa, and digesta in piglets fed a diet with 500 mg/kg pancreatin (p < 0.05). The mRNA expression of nutrient transporters, including oligopeptide transporter-1 (PepT1), excitatory amino acid transporter-1 (EAAC1), cationic amino acid transporter-1 (CAT1), sodium glucose cotransporter-1 (SGLT1), glucose transporter-2 (GLUT2), and fatty acid transporter-4 (FATP4), in the jejunum significantly increased after dietary supplementation with 500 mg/kg pancreatin (p < 0.05). An increased villus height-to-crypt depth ratio of the ileum was observed in the 500 mg/kg pancreatin-treated group (p < 0.05). The composition of the colonic microbiota modulated by the addition of 500 mg/kg pancreatin was characterized by an increased relative abundance of Lactobacillus (p < 0.05), and the predicted functions revealed that 500 mg/kg pancreatin supplementation enhanced the functional abundance of genetic information processing in colonic microorganisms and environmental information processing. Our findings suggested that the addition of 500 mg/kg pancreatin improved the growth performance of piglets, improved intestinal structure, and modulated the colon microbiota, thereby increasing nutrient digestibility.

Dietary Addition of Antioxidant Complex Packs and Functional Amino Acids Can Improve the Digestion, Absorption, and Immunity of Huanjiang Minipigs.

To study the effect of functional amino acids and the antioxidant function compound package on Huanjiang minipigs and to lay a foundation for the formulation of green and efficient feed for Huanjiang minipigs, we added functional amino acids and the antioxidant function compound package to piglet feed for 28 days. After feeding, we detected the growth performance, biochemical indexes, inflammatory indexes, and intestinal disaccharidase of piglets. It was found that functional amino acids and the antioxidant compound package had certain effects on the growth performance and biochemical indexes of piglets and could reduce the level of IL-6 and increase the level of LZM and SIgA of piglets, and the levels of lactase and maltase in the intestine also increased significantly. The results showed that the compound package of functional amino acids and antioxidation could improve the growth performance and immunity of piglets and promote the digestion and absorption of nutrients in piglets.

Digestive abilities, amino acid transporter expression, and metabolism in the intestines of piglets fed with spermine.

This study evaluated the effects of spermine supplementation on the digestion, transport, and metabolism of nutrients in the jejuna of piglets. Of the 80 piglets examined, 40 received 0.4mmol/kg body weight spermine, and the other half were randomly distributed such that the restricted nutrient intake supplemented with the saline solution for 7hr and 3, 6, or 9days in pairs. Spermine supplementation increased the lipase and trypsin activities (p<.05), and spermine increased the mRNA levels of maltase, sucrase, and aminopeptidase N (APN) but decreased the lactase gene expression (p<.05). Moreover, spermine increased the mRNA expression levels of amino acid transporters (p<.05). Spermine increased the jejunum glycerolphosphocholine, lipid, and taurine levels and decreased the choline and amino acids levels (p<.05). In summary, spermine can promote the digestion, transport, and metabolism of nutrients in piglets. PRACTICAL APPLICATIONS: Meat, fish, dairy products, and fruits contain polyamines (i.e., spermine, spermidine, and putrescine). Spermine plays an important role in the cell proliferation, growth, and differentiation, and spermine supplementation can improve the growth of broilers, growth performance of early weaning piglets, and intestinal maturation. The results of this study suggest that spermine can improve the digestion, transport, and metabolism of nutrients in piglets.

Effects of Dietary Aged Maize with Oxidized Fish Oil on Growth Performance, Antioxidant Capacity and Intestinal Health in Weaned Piglets.

Simple SummaryIn China, large quantities of maize are stored in grain depots for two years or more to mitigate the risk of natural disasters impacting feed supplies. However, it is unknown whether the use of long-term stored maize in diets will impair growth performance of piglets, and whether additional dietary oxidants would further exacerbate the effects. This study investigates the effects of dietary aged maize with the supplementation of different levels of oxidized fish oil on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, serum antioxidant activity and gut health in piglets and tries to provide a theoretical foundation for the better use of aged maize in swine production. The results of this study showed that aged maize had no significant effect on growth performance, diarrhea and nutrient digestibility of the piglets, but it did reduce serum antioxidant capacity. When oxidized fish oil was added, aged maize reduced serum antioxidant capacity further, inhibited the expressions of genes related to intestinal nutrient transport, promoted intestinal inflammation, and also reduced the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of nutrients, increased diarrhea and finally reduced the growth performance of piglets. Thus, the use of aged maize in the diet of the piglets may be not feasible, especially when other oxidation-inducing factors existed, which would exacerbate the negative effects of the aged maize.This study aimed to determine the effects of dietary aged maize with supplementation of different levels of oxidized fish oil on growth performance, nutrient digestibility, serum antioxidant activity and gut health in piglets. Forty-two piglets were arranged in 2 × 3 factorial treatments in a complete randomized block design with seven replicates per treatment and one pig per replicate for 28 d. Diets included twp types of maize (normal maize or aged maize) and three levels of oxidized fish oil (OFO) (3% non-oxidized fish oil (0% OFO), 1.5% OFO and 1.5% non-oxidized fish oil (1.5% OFO), and 3% OFO (3% OFO). Results showed that dietary aged maize did not affect growth performance, diarrhea, and the apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of nutrients in piglets (p > 0.05). However, aged maize increased malonaldehyde (MDA) content and decreased total antioxidant capacity (T-AOC) in serum on both 14th and 28th days (p < 0.05) compared to the normal maize groups. Meanwhile, compared with normal maize, dietary aged maize showed a slight, but not significant (p > 0.10) decrease in total superoxide dismutase (T-SOD) activity and VE content in serum on the 14th day. In addition, aged maize significantly decreased GLUT2 mRNA expression (p < 0.05) and tended to increase (p < 0.10) TNF-α and IL-6 mRNA expression in jejunal mucosa. Compared with non-oxidized fish oil, oxidized fish oil resulted in the decrease of the 14–28 d and 0–28 d ADG, as well as the ATTD of dry matter (DM), ether extract (EE), organic matter (OM) (p < 0.05), whereas the increase in diarrhea index (p < 0.05) and F/G of the whole period (p < 0.05). Oxidized fish oil decreased serum T-AOC on both the 14th and the 28th days (p < 0.05), and decreased serum T-SOD activity and VE content on the 28th day (p < 0.05), whereas increased serum MDA content on the 28th day (p < 0.05) and 14th day (p < 0.10) compared with fresh fish oil. Meanwhile, MUC2 (p < 0.05) and SGLT1 (p < 0.10) mRNA expression in jejunal mucosa were decreased compared with non-oxidized fish oil. In addition, dietary oxidized fish oil tended to decrease 14–28 d ADFI and the ATTD of CP (p < 0.10), and piglets fed oxidized fish oil significantly decreased 14–28 d ADFI, the ATTD of CP, GLUT2 and SGLT1 mRNA expressions in jejunal mucosa when piglet also fed with aged maize (p < 0.05). Collectively, these results indicated that dietary oxidized fish oil decreased growth performance and nutrients digestibility of piglets fed with aged maize. This nutrient interaction may be mediated by inhibiting intestinal nutrient transporter, inducing intestinal inflammation, and reducing antioxidant capacity.

The influence of the factor of the method of hybrid pigs feeding while growing on the meat quality

In this article have been presented results of the analysis of the influence of the method of feeding pigs during growing-finishing on the quality of meat when fattening to live weight 100, 110 and 120 kg, in terms of the combined use of feed of different humidity during rearing and fattening. The pig meat of commercial hybrid (Y×L)× “MaxGrow” was characterized by a low level of water-holding capacity, regardless of the live weight of animals at slaughter and feeding methods, which is negatively associated with the loss of free moisture during further storage and processing of meat raw materials. According to the color of the meat no significant difference was found between the groups, but the meat of pigs, live weight 110 and 120 kg little compared to the darker coloration on a scale of “Pork Quality Standards”. Animals that consumed wetter feed during the full cycle of growing-finishing and fattening were superior to their counterparts in the content of intramuscular fat (P ≤ 0.01). With the increase in live weight of animals, the fat content in the meat of pigs which used a liquid type of feeding during rearing increased. The difference in fat content was especially pronounced between animals that consumed on growing-finishing dry and liquid feed when slaughtering them with a live weight 120 kg. The effect of the combination of feeding method for these groups was η² = 39.3% (P ≤ 0.01). Two-factor analysis showed the effect of both factors – the feeding method η² = 15.2% (P ≤ 0.001) and live weight η² = 20.1% (P ≤ 0.01), on the level of intramuscular fat in pigs. Factors of feeding (η² = 26.2%) and live weight (η² = 18.7%) had a reliable effect (P ≤ 0.001) on the energy value of pork meat in the studied genotype. Feeding young animals moistened with multiphase method, followed by fattening with liquid feed contributed to the formation of a certain mode of consumption and mechanism of assimilation of nutrients in piglets, which led to a more intensive accumulation of intramuscular fat.

341 Supplementation of Sodium Bentonite Clay Did Not Alleviate the Negative Effect of Fumonisin B1 Contaminated Corn on Feed Preference and Nutrient Digestibility in Weanling Pigs.

Two experiments were performed to evaluate effects of corn naturally contaminated with fumonisin B1 (FB1 corn, containing 73 ppm fumonisin B1 and 0.07 ppm aflatoxin B1) on feed preference and apparent total tract digestibility (ATTD) of nutrients in piglets and possible alleviating effects of sodium bentonite clay supplementation. Four dietary treatments were used: PC - positive control using clean corn, NC - negative control using 40% FB1 corn, PCC - PC with 0.50% sodium bentonite clay, and NCC - NC with 0.50% sodium bentonite clay. Experiment 1 used 36 crossbred pigs (18 barrows, 18 gilts; 10.49 ± 1.09 kg) for a preference evaluation. Three dietary comparisons were made: PC vs NC, PC vs NCC, and NC vs NCC. Each comparison involved 3 pens, each with 4 pigs (2 barrows and 2 gilts). Two feeders were placed in each pen and their positions changed 3 times a week for 2 weeks. Preference was shown for PC diet over NC diet (84.1 vs 15.9%, P = 0.0003) and NCC diet (92.7 vs 7.3%, P < 0.0001), as well as for NC diet over NCC diet (75.6 vs 24.4%, P < 0.05). Experiment 2 used 24 crossbred pigs (12 barrows, 12 gilts; 8.09 ± 1.13 kg) to detect effects of contaminated corn and sodium bentonite clay supplementation on performance and ATTD in piglets. Pigs were fed a common nursery diet for 7 days before being placed in stainless steel metabolism pens with 2 pigs each (1 barrow and 1 gilt) for 19 days. There were three collection periods (7, 7, and 5 d). Pigs and feeders were weighed at the beginning and end of each period with 0.5% indigo carmine used as a visual marker of the start/end point of each collection period. There was no effect of clay inclusion, or interaction, observed on the digestibility measures (P > 0.10). For the entire 19-d period, inclusion of 40% FB1 corn increased time of passage (26.2 vs 21.7 hr, P = 0.01), reduced daily DM intake (0.83 vs 0.91 kg/d, P < 0.05), and ATTD of DM (87.3 vs 88.9%, P = 0.02), energy, (87.3 vs 88.7, P = 0.07), and N (83.8 vs 86.8%, P = 0.01). With this combination of mycotoxins, the adverse effects observed on feed intake were of a greater magnitude than the adverse effects on ATTD. Clay addition to the diet had no positive benefit on any response measures.

Effects of sow, udder section and time on colostrum immunoglobulin G (IgG) concentrations and piglet colostrum intake

Relationships between sow nutrition, milk yield, milk composition and piglet performance during lactation have been studied in numerous experiments. However, the subsequent effects of these pre-weaning factors on post-weaning piglet performance are less well studied. Commonly a growth check in piglets in response to weaning is noted, but to date it is unknown why some piglets do better than others in this period. The present experiment explored some of the pre-weaning factors that could explain the variability in piglet post-weaning growth.The performance of piglets from 41 litters was monitored during a lactation period of 26 days. Litter size was standardised to 10 piglets, which were not offered creep food. Piglets were weighed individually on a weekly basis from farrowing to weaning at 26 days. Daily litter milk intake was estimated by a weigh-suckle-weigh technique in 24 litters on 4 occasions at 5 day intervals across lactation. On the day after each of these days, the composition of milk was determined from milk samples obtained by hand milking following oxytocin injection. Litter milk intake and composition of milk were used to calculate the mean daily piglet nutrient intakes during lactation. After weaning some piglets were sacrificed for the analysis of body composition and 310 piglets out of the 41 litters were penned in litter groups in controlled environment flat decks for two weeks to monitor daily group feed intakes and weekly individual growth rates.